[The following article is
extracted from the March-April 2008 issue issue
of The Other
Under the same sky
Aid convoy to Gaza, January 26 2008
by Adam Keller
"There is a problem"
said the elderly woman who phoned urgently on the day before we set out.
"The food which I and my husband bought for the Gaza Convoy is too much to
be put into one box. But if we divide it in two, the Palestinian families who
get each box will feel that Israelis are misers. And the shops are already
closed, we can't buy more. What shall we do?"
This Tel Aviv couple was among the
very many people, in
In fact, a relief convoy had been
in stages of preparation already for several weeks before these stirring
events. The initiative started in late December, when Dr. Eyad al-Sarraj — the
well-known Gazan psychiatrist and human rights activist — got a permit to enter
Israel. This provided a rare opportunity for Israeli peace activists, hosted at
the Gush Shalom office, to hear a first-hand account of the increasingly
desperate hardships of daily life in the Strip — much of it new also to those
who spend hours every day to surf the net and find information which the
mainstream media does not bother with.
It was out of the question to hear
all that and just nod our heads in sadness. On the spot, it was decided to
organize a relief convoy for Gaza — providing both some real, concrete aid, and
also a powerful symbolic gesture — and to struggle by all political and
juridical means for the right to actually get the supplies into the Strip.
Further, the arrival of the convoy
at the border of the Strip would be marked by two parallel protest rallies, to
be held simultaneously on the two sides of the impassable border. There
followed weeks of preparations, meetings held every few days, attended by more
and more activists, the drafting of manifestos and statements which were
translated back and forth between Hebrew, Arabic and English, amended and
amended again so as to satisfy all 26 peace groups which eventually joined the
initiative. There were considerable political and ideological differences and,
no less important, in the age and general outlook of the various groups'
membership. A single slogan was chosen, uniting everybody: Gaza: End the
Blockade!
On occasion, petty rivalries and
quarrels flared up, sometimes acrimoniously — as they must in all human
enterprises, however well intentioned. Still, many activists from various
organizations worked feverishly — long days and deep into the night:
distributing leaflets at street corners and on university campuses, working to
take care of numerous small difficulties and logistical hitches. There were
quite a few new faces we had not seen before, young people who suddenly stepped
in to take a heavy share of the burden.
Gush Shalom started a fund-raising campaign
among its sympathizers. Hundreds of checks came pouring in — from all over
Israel, as out of obscure towns in faraway countries. The US-based Jewish Voice
for Peace gave wings to the campaign as did its Dutch counterpart, and longtime
members of Solidarity with Palestine groups also used this opportunity to get
some help through to Gaza. Often, words of thanks accompanied the checks for an
opportunity to join the struggle. And various groups picketed Israeli embassies
and consulates with signs reading 'Let the Convoy Pass!'
In consultation with Dr. al-Sarraj
it was decided to buy, not only five tons of essential foodstuffs — flour,
sugar, rice, oil, salt, beans and lentils — but also water filters.
In the original meeting with him
in Tel Aviv, one of the salient details was how polluted and undrinkable water
is in the Gaza Strip, even in "ordinary" times. The Israeli siege
caused a very severe shortage of water filters — which are far from providing a
full answer, but do at least reduce the danger to the drinkers' health. So, the
Israeli supplier was duly located in the town of Petach Tikva, and a quantity
of filters purchased (we decided to concentrate on the heavy-duty large
filters, costing 250 Dollars apiece, and destined for schools and other public
institutions in the Strip).
Activists scouting ahead around
the Gaza border found what seemed the ideal spot for holding the rally — a
hillside overlooking the Gaza Strip, where Israeli protesters could stand while
our Palestinian partners came to a nearby field on their side of the border, so
that denominators on both sides could see each other. Alas, this creative idea
was foiled by the army, declaring said hill "a closed military zone"
and going as far as surrounding it with barbed wire, to prevent any chance of
our ascending. The military decree was issued just a single day before the
convoy was due to set out, too short to try an appeal to the Supreme Court, so
we had to make do with keeping contact between the Israeli rally and the
Palestinian one via mobile phone.
Prayer against
rain
January 26, and the weather
forecasts were far from auspicious: "Rain and thunderstorms predicted all
over the country, rainfall will increase during the day."
Already in the preceding night, we
had been woken up by strong thunderbolts. "Who is going to get up early on
a Shabbat morning in such stormy weather, in order to participate in an
open-air protest rally and carry sacks of food?" But a single look at any of the bustling
rendezvous points (
As requested by the organizers,
hundreds of families came in their private cars, all of which were soon
decorated by posters showing a map of Gaza surrounded by barbed wire, and the
slogan 'End the blockade!' in three languages. Some added on their own cars
older placards and posters left over from earlier campaigns: Gaza: Stop the
madness, stop the war! / No to Occupation, Yes to Israeli-Palestinian Peace! /
It won't end until we talk!
A battered old car, full of
youngsters with weird hairstyles, was completely covered with graffiti: One
More Car Against the Siege / You have gas? Gazans Don't! Together with those travelling by bus, the
number of participants amounted to about two thousands — far above
expectations. It was the veteran
Ya'akov Manor who had come up with the idea of asking demonstrators to bring
private relief parcels and to add personal letters "from family to
family." This touched a chord among activists who had seen the distressing
TV broadcasts from Gaza.
Families spent considerable care
and expense in preparing their personal aid packages, bringing not only food
and mineral water, but also blankets, warm clothing and many other useful
articles, even stoves. Parcels were fastened to the tops of the cars or put in
the baggage holds of the buses. When later collected together, they amounted to
no less than an additional two tons of supplies.
At the moment of assembly the rain
was slight, no real hindrance. But during the drive southwards to the Erez
Border Crossing it grew heavier and heavier, pouring down, making it almost
impossible to see the road, and considerably slowing down the numerous cars.
Enough to make the most obdurate of atheists utter a fervent prayer, precisely
the opposite of what peasants in this land have prayed for since time
immemorial "No rain! No rain! Please, please, can you not stop it for two
hours! Just two hours, that is all I ask!"
A call from the Reuters TV camera
crew: "We are positioned at Erez and waiting for you. All set to start
worldwide live broadcast at 12.45 sharp. Please be punctual — these satellite
links cost a lost of money, you know." A hasty cell phone consultation
from car to car, and the organizers' resolve: "We must make it, by hook or
by crook, even if we all get soaking wet. We just CAN'T afford to miss that
broadcast!" Dr. Sarraj, calling from the preparations for the Palestinian
parallel rally in Gaza, with a ray of hope: "Don't worry, the rain in Gaza
has stopped and the clouds are clearing away. We are all under the same sky,
whatever the barriers on the ground!"
And so it proved. By the time the
convoys from all over the country converged on the Yad Mordechai Junction and
set out for the final few kilometres, there were only large puddles on the
ground to remind of the fury of the elements. The sun broke out to give camera
crews a full chance to capture the long, long, slow moving line of cars, buses
and trucks.
Disembarkation at the locked gates
of the Erez Checkpoint — once a crowded thoroughfare, where tens of thousands
of Gazan workers passed very early every morning on their way to low-paid jobs
in Israel, now a concrete wasteland that only "exceptional humanitarian
cases" are granted the rare privilege of traversing. Jewish and Arab demonstrators — about half
and half, with a leavening of Swedes, Germans, Americans, Canadians, Japanese
and a single Korean — held aloft aid packages and placards, marching parallel
to the high walls separating the Strip from
From the loudspeaker atop a van
chants were initiated in Hebrew and Arabic, enthusiastically picked up by the
marchers:
Mounted police shadowed the march,
and a cordon of police and soldiers was stretched along the Wall. Ahead, the truck
loaded with sacks of flour was already waiting, covered with heavy tarpaulins
against the weather — to be used as an improvised speakers' podium.
A phone call from Dr. Sarraj, from
the rally of the Palestinian-International Campaign to End the Siege at the
Unknown Soldier's Tomb in
Prolonged applause, and a
reciprocal message of peace by the undersigned relayed in the same way to the
Palestinian rally. It was even possible to faintly hear the cheering of the
Gazan crowd. (On more than one past occasion, attempts at such phone-relayed
speeches ended with embarrassing scenes of loud squeaking and inarticulate
noises. But recent improvements in cell phone technology have evidently come to
the rescue of cross-border peace activism.)
"What shall we say to the
hungry child and his mother, seeking bread in the streets of
"Three days ago, the Rafah
Wall has fallen, as the Berlin Wall has fallen, as the 'Separation Wall'
cutting through the
Advocate Fatmeh al-Ijou spoke of
last week's hearing at the Supreme Court in
"Together with us and with
our friends in Gaza, tens of thousands of people are standing at this moment in
demonstrations and pickets and rallies all over the world, in capital cities
and megalopolises as well as in small towns — all of them demanding the end of
the siege on Gaza and of the occupation in general," said Professor Jeff
Halper, who went on to call upon the people of Sderot to rebel against the role
imposed on them by the government — "The role of hostages to missile fire
and pretexts for acts of oppression in
"As soon as the spotlight
went out on the visit of President George W. Bush [a loud "Boo"! from
the audience], the light also went out in the homes and hospitals of Gaza"
called former Hadash MK Issam Makhoul. "But the years of silence are over.
Jewish and Arab people of peace and goodwill are uniting in the struggle for a
just peace, which alone can ensure the future of the children of Gaza and
Sderot."
And Balad Mk Jamal Zahalka added:
"The so-called negotiations and Peace Process, which the government
announced, are empty of any real content, a mere camouflage to hide the crimes
committed in Gaza. What the government tries to hide from the public is the
basic fact that numerous offers of a ceasefire were made by the Palestinian
side and were all rejected out of hand by the Government of Israel."
Teddy Katz read out a message from
former Minister Shulamit Aloni, a scheduled speaker who could not come for
health reasons:Ê "Enough of the
killing, murder and destruction, committed in our name! Enough of false
propaganda, media spins which end in death! This is my direct message to the
Minister of Defence, Ehud Barak, and his henchmen: The time is over for your
mentality of reckless, unthinking commando raids and assassinations. The time
has come for maturity and rational consideration — a time for peace!" (Aside
from her words, Aloni provided a substantial monetary donation and two personal
aid packages.)
A completely unexpected speaker,
who came up at the last moment, was a young woman from Sderot, Shir Shusdig -
who climbed the truck/podium with some diffidence and took the microphone:
"For the past seven years, at Sderot and Kibbutz Zikim, I have lived under
the constant threat of the Qassams. I have become so attuned to them that even
in other, quiet parts of the country, when I hear a public address system I
instinctively think this is the missile alarm. I know that the people on the
other side are also suffering very much. I don't trust either our government or
the Hamas to solve the problem and bring peace. But the fact that we have come
here, so many people together, Jews and Arabs and Palestinians over there, that
is what gives hope; that we all want peace!"(Very loud cheers).
A few minutes after protesters
piled into the cars and buses, the rain started again.
...but how to
get it into Gaza?
The convoy and the two parallel
rallies gave a good feeling, but the hard part — getting the goods through -
was still to come. Pending the necessary wrangling with the military
bureaucracy, the personal packages, together with the sacks of flour and rice
and the precious water filters, were all loaded and taken to warehouses -
placed free of charge at the organizers' disposal, by Kibbutz Kerem Shalom and
the Bedouin township of Rahat.
Indeed, there were many layers of
bureaucracy, presenting obstacles to overcome. The officers in direct charge of
the border crossings into Gaza, the office of the Coordinator of Government
Activities in the Territories, and the Bureau and personal aides of Defence
Minister Barak, all have some say in the matter and are in the habit of
referring applicants back and forth. But Adv. Orna Cohen, of the Human Rights
organization Adalah, does not give up easily.Ê
First, the answer was an unqualified "no" — since "the
decision had been taken to close the passes altogether." Hundreds of
protests were sent to the government from all over the world, especially by
people and groups who had donated to buy the supplies that were being held up.
Moreover, on exactly this week
Olmert met with the Knesset Members of Hadash, in an attempt to solicit from
them some degree of support for the government — and they took up the issue of
the convoy, as well as more long-range matters. Finally, organizer Ya'akov
Manor got a fax from Barak's bureau, confirming that "permission was
granted to transfer the goods into Gaza."
Not quite yet the happy end. The
officer in charge of the border crossings duly received the Defence Ministry
fax — whereupon it turned out that "only a limited quota of trucks"
were being allowed to cross every day." Therefore "I don't know when
your turn would come — perhaps in a month, perhaps in two...."
After more protests and the
preparation of an appeal to the Supreme Court, a specific permit was granted -
a specific permit for a particular truck driven by a particular driver (and
only for them) to enter on February 9 the closely guarded Sufa Compound and
offload its cargo, where it could be picked by a Palestinian driver and taken
to Gaza.
There was a final hitch on the morning
itself. The truck driver — a Bedouin, who is not a political activist and who
does this route frequently — had been intimidated by something which soldiers
at the border had told him a few days previously (he would not say exactly
what). It took a lot of talking and convincing before his truck, draped with
the big banner "End the Siege!" set off, accompanied by several TV
crews. (At the last moment Rahat residents added some more sacks of floor.)
A delegation of activists, among
them Uri and Rachel Avnery, Ya'akov Manor, Michel Warshawski, Yossi Elgazi and
the TOI-staff came with the truck until the entrance to the compound. The gates
of Gaza opened — at least for a moment.
As Gush Shalom continued to
receive donations a second shipment is about to be sent. This time the request
was for medicines and medical equipment. All in all, more than $80,000 was
collected and spent on buying goods and bringing them into Gaza.
Israeli Coalition Against
the Siege — list of participants:
Gush Shalom *
Combatants for Peace * Coalition of Women for Peace * ICAHD (The Israeli
Committee Against House Demolitions) * Bat Shalom * Bat Tzafon for Peace and
Equality * Balad * Hadash * Adalah * Tarabut-Hithabrut * Physicians for Human
Rights-Israel * AIC (Alternative Information Center) * Psychoactive-Mental
Health Workers for Human Rights * ActiveStills * The Student Coalition (Tel
Aviv University) * New Profile * MachsomWatch * PCATI (Public Committee Against
Torture in Israel) * Yesh Gvul * Gisha * Local Television on the Internet *
Committee for Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue * On the Left Side * Faculty for
Palestinian-Israeli Peace (Israel).
List of parallel actions
worldwide
US: New York,
Phoenix, Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia, San
Francisco, Anaheim, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Boston, Alameda,
Detroit, Chapel Hill, Durham, Champaign, Anaheim, Charlotte, Costa Mesa, Sioux
Falls, St. Paul, New Haven; CANADA: Montreal, Sydney, Toronto, Melbourne; UK:
London, Birmingham, Brighton, Leicester, Manchester, Edinburgh, Swansea,
Sheffield, Edinburgh, Glasgow; SPAIN: Madrid, Malaga, Cordoba, Barcelona,
Valencia, Santander, Torrelavega, Celra (Girona), Lerida, Asturias, Mallorca;
ITALY: Rome, Modena, Bologna, Grosseto, Naples, Milan, Padova Como Udine,
Torino; FRANCE: Paris, Poitiers, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Nantes,
Orleans; GERMANY: Berlin, Gelsenkirchen, Gothenburg, Koblenz, Wuppertal;
SWEDEN: Stockholm, Gotaplatsen; AUSTRIA: Vienna; SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Town, and...
sorry if this wasn't all.
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